April 6, 2017

Okay, so I write a lot more werewolves and bears and historical dudes. But I love me some cowboys. I mean, I married BA Tortuga, the queen of the down to earth cowboy book.

So, what is it about the cowboys?

There’s the iconic aspect of them. The heroic John Wayne figure, riding off into the sunset. There’s the Wranglers. There’s the work hardened body, a lean, mean fighting machine with a farmer’s tan.

But really, for me, there’s a lot more to it. I grew up watching the rodeo team at the college where I lived practice. I went to visit my grandpa in the summer, where he still did his job on horseback. I wore cowboy boots to school. While I was a suburban kid at best, I’m only one generation removed from people who worked the very land I write about in my Riding Cowboy Flats series.

So, here I give you Julia’s top ten real life most cowboy experiences, so you can see where I’m coming from. Trust me, some were fun, some not so much…

10. Being told a calf can’t buck you off if you ride him backward and hold onto the tail. And trying it. Not true.

9. Getting shot at with buckshot while diving through a barbed wire fence.

8. Watching my wife string fence on her Daddy’s ranch in Texas, while she wore flip flops and threw a ball for the dog

7. Going to watch the tiniest rodeo on earth at the Hunt County fair

6. Buying my first pair of adult cowboy boots at an outlet store in Texas

5. Hitting all the little rodeos in Central Texas over the 4th of July, also called Cowboy Christmas. We must have gone to 15 in one year

Can an old-fashioned cowboy and a young man on the run from his dark past find a future together?

Herschel is a simple rancher who believes everybody deserves a second chance, which is why he tends to hire underdogs—like Dalton, a young cowboy who needs all the support and TLC Herschel can offer.

Dalton doesn’t think anyone can forgive him for what he did, but Herschel seems willing to try. In fact, he might be the best thing that has ever happened to Dalton. He might even be the one to help Dalton trust in the future again. Just when he’s about to tell Herschel everything, all hell breaks loose. Herschel must help Dalton break free from everything that’s haunting him, or they’ll both end up alone.

First Edition published by Torquere Press, 2010.

Author Bio:

Stories that leave a mark. Julia Talbot loves romance across all the genders and genres, and loves to write about people working to see past the skin they’re in to love what lies beneath. Julia Talbot lives in the great mountain and high desert Southwest, where there is hot and cold running rodeo, cowboys, and everything from meat and potatoes to the best Tex-Mex. A full time author, Julia has been published by Dreamspinner and Changeling Press among many others. She believes that everyone deserves a happy ending, so she writes about love without limits, where boys love boys, girls love girls, and boys and girls get together to get wild, especially when her crazy paranormal characters are involved. She also writes BDSM and erotic romance as Minerva Howe. Find Julia at @juliatalbot on Twitter, or at www.juliatalbot.com “The mountains are calling, and I must go”